Joint letter to European Commissioner Kadis regarding shortcomings in the scientific advice on fishing opportunities

This joint letter, co-signed by 18 organisations working on EU fisheries and environmental policies, was sent to the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, ahead of the 2025 renewal of the Specific Grant Agreement with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the overarching Framework Partership Agreement which guide the provision of scientific advice on fishing opportunities.

In this letter, we follow up on our April letter, highlighting once again that the current ICES advice on fishing opportunities does not fully reflect all relevant legal requirements and policy objectives applicable to the EU or the core aims of the European Ocean Pact, including the goal to maintain a “healthy, resilient and productive ocean”. Concretely, it is not geared towards

1. recovering fish populations within a concrete timeframe and maintaining them above sustainable levels in the near future;
2. preventing fish populations from, or minimising the risk of, falling outside safe biological limits, despite legal safeguards in the EU’s Multi-Annual Plans (MAPs); or
3. delivering on all relevant elements of “Good Environmental Status” (GES) under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), such as healthy population structures and/or food web integrity (e.g. leaving enough food in the sea for other marine life).

In order to address this, we urge the Commission to use the renewal of the two key agreements with ICES to advance key improvements to the advisory process throughout this year’s fisheries negotiations, and to apply additional precaution until the necessary changes have been made. 

Related links:

Find other files produced or co-signed by ClientEarth related to the annual negotiations on fishing opportunities from 2015 onwards here.